Study Date
by KitKatt0430
Summary: Caitlin desperately needs to plug in her laptop in a crowded coffee shop. Barry is studying for an upcoming exam. It all comes together in a coffee shop just off campus. Years later, its their daughter's favorite bed time story.


Summary: Caitlin desperately needs to plug in her laptop in a crowded coffee shop. Barry is studying for an upcoming exam. It all comes together in a coffee shop just off campus.

Years later, its their daughter's favorite bed time story.

Notes: For Snowbarry Week Prompt: High School/College Sweethearts.

_**Study Date**_

"Tell me again, daddy. Tell me how you and mommy met."

"Really? That old story? Again?" Barry grinned and tickled Krys' sides for a moment, grinning as she shrieked with laughter.

"Yes, daddy. Come on, tell me." She latched on to his hand with both her small ones and Barry felt his chest go all melty.

Pressing a kiss to Krystal's forehead, he nodded. "Alright, Krys. I'll tell you the story.

* * *

Barry had just graduated with his bachelor's degree a few months earlier, but somehow here he still was. Still taking classes, still cramming for exams at eight o'clock in the evening on a Tuesday at a coffee shop.

Why did he want a Master's again?

... so that he could work as a CSI for the city. That was why.

For a Tuesday, the shop was pretty crammed. Barry was lucky enough to have snagged a table by an outlet while he finished up his essay for one of his classes earlier and had moved on to reviewing his notes for his other summer class, all while keeping up a steady stream of caffeine. And some food too, so he didn't wind up with a headache from the coffee intake. So far, so good. Though he had a song he couldn't quite place stuck in his head.

"Excuse me."

Barry looked up only to find himself staring at one of the most beautiful women he'd ever seen in his life. And she kept glancing at the outlet his laptop was hooked up to.

"Sorry to bother you, but my computer's about to die. Do you mind if I join you?"

"Go ahead," Barry shifted his notes out of the way, putting some of it away in his backpack. The table was kind of small for two laptops, but they could make it work. "I'm Barry," he added, offering a handshake.

She smiled in response and Barry might've been a little entranced. "Caitlin," she replied and shook his hand. "Cramming for a test?"

"Forensic Science ethics class," Barry replied. "It builds on one of the classes I took while getting my BS and I'm starting to regret taking the abbreviated summer course. The professor's gone pretty fast paced to shove as much information into the course as possible in the shortened semester."

"I know what you mean. Studying to get my MD but I'm starting to think I prefer research to practicing medicine. When I'm not studying or in class, I'm at the hospital shadowing various doctors. I swear I haven't slept for a week." She looked at her laptop screen and groaned, "and I may be typing gibberish for this essay as a result."

"Will you get to sleep again after the summer semester ends?" Barry asked.

"God I hope so. Yes. Probably. Do people who think getting a bio-tech PhD is a good idea sleep?"

"I'll keep my fingers crossed for your sake," Barry joked, earning a smile. "If you're doing an MD now and a PhD then, does that mean you graduate in two weeks with the MD?"

"Yeah. Just had two classes and the last of my clinic hours to do and I'm officially Doctor Caitlin Snow." She looked incredibly excited about it despite how tired she looked.

"Congratulations," Barry told her warmly. They beamed at each other for a long moment, then each blushed and stared down at their computers, busying themselves once more.

But there was that song stuck in Barry's head. He couldn't remember the lyrics, just the melody, and he found himself humming despite himself. Hmm-hmm-hum hmm-hm-hmm-hm-hum...

Eventually, slightly off-key, Barry heard, "Rainbow Brite: see the shining light. Yes I'm gonna take you to Rainbow Bri-i-ite..." sung along to the tune of his humming.

"That's what it is?" he asked abruptly, startling Caitlin. "I've had that stuck in my head all day and I could not remember the lyrics at all. Or the cartoon, though I knew it had to be one of the cartoons I watched as a kid."

"You watched _Rainbow Brite_?" Caitlin beamed. "I loved _Rainbow Brite_."

"So did I. And the _Care Bears_ and the classic _My Little Pony_," Barry enthused.

"Not _He-Man_ and the _Ninja Turtles_?"

"Those too, but I was always all about the shows where the main theme was helping others without violence."

Caitlin opens her mouth to respond to that, then swears softly instead as she pulls out her phone. "Ah, shoot, its almost dead."

"Here," Barry unplugged his laptop. "I've got plenty of battery."

"Thanks," Caitlin pulled out a charging cord and used the outlet Barry'd just given up.

"No problem." He tapped his fingers thoughtfully on the table in the rhythm of the Rainbow Brite theme song. "How does the rest of that song go?" he muttered, more to himself than to Caitlin.

She must've heard him, though, because the next thing Barry knew, Caitlin was singing softly again. "Starlite flies, right before your eyes," and Barry chimed in as the lyrics finally came back to him entirely. "And rainbow colors will cheer you u-u-up. Magic light... gonna take you for a ride. Rainbow Brite: see the shining light. Yes I'm gonna take you to Rainbow Bri-i-i-ite!"

They trailed off in giggles, grinning at each other.

"When the semester's over, would you want to maybe meet up... go on a coffee date?" Caitlin asked.

"Yes," Barry replied instantly. "Yes, I'd like that very much." He ended up inputting his name and number into her charging phone, then grinning when she texted him 'hi from caitlin :)' once he handed the phone back over.

* * *

"A few weeks later, your mom and I had our first date," Barry finished, pressing a kiss to his daughter's forehead.

"Tell me another story?" Krys immediately yawned, her little eyes flickering shut despite herself.

"Not tonight, sweetheart. But in the morning, we can watch a little _Rainbow Brite_. Sound good?" Barry grinned when his daughter nodded, her eyes now closed entirely.

"Want an episode with... Murky Dismal."

"Sounds good to me." Standing up, Barry backed quietly out of the room and shut the door. Then he joined Caitlin in their bedroom where she was changing into her pajamas.

"Took a little longer than normal. Which story was it tonight?"

"Krys wanted to hear the one about two dorks singing cartoon theme songs in a coffee shop," Barry teased, kissing Caitlin on the cheek.

"We really were such dorks," Caitlin agreed with a laugh, turning to catch Barry's mouth with her own.

"Were? I have it on good authority we still are such dorks." He grinned as Caitlin tucked herself into his arms and they swayed a little to the theme song he'd started to hum. "Krys loves that show."

"Well, she is our daughter. Didn't really stand much of a chance, when its what brought us together."

* * *

Notes: In the non-flashback we don't see, Barry waxed lyrical about how beautiful Caitlin was when he first saw her to the point of ridiculousness so that Krys was giggling during most of the story. :)


End file.
